WASHINGTON, July 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Donald Trump said that “shocking” flash floods in Texas which left at least 24 people dead and multiple children missing were “terrible.”
“It’s terrible, the floods. It’s shocking,” Trump told reporters as rescuers scrambled to find stranded residents, including at least 20 girls who were unaccounted for at a summer camp in Kerr County, south-central Texas.
“It’s terrible, the floods. It’s shocking,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, search and rescue teams are conducting boat and helicopter rescues in the floodwaters.
According to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha, 24 people were killed in the flash flooding of the Guadalupe River, after heavy rains which continued overnight in the central Kerr County.
237 people were rescued, including 167 by helicopter, authorities said.
At least 20 children, who were attending Camp Mystic, a Christian camp in the small town of Hunt in Kerr County, south-central Texas, remained missing after the flash floods.
During the flash floods, a river gauge at Hunt recorded a rise of about 22 foot, failing after it went up to 29 and a half feet, Bob Fogarty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office said.
One of the children attending the camp, Elinor Lester (13), said she and her cabin mates had to be rescued via helicopters.
“The camp was completely destroyed,” Lester said. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away,” she said, adding that it was “scary”. — NNN-AGENCIES
